


Homework

by towerfortified (castlestormed)



Category: Air Gear
Genre: Gen, Kogarasumaru, character sketch, pre-tuner Yayoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-17 11:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5867134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castlestormed/pseuds/towerfortified
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nakayama Yayoi wrestles with homework and thoughts about her team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homework

Sometimes homework was something that she liked, particularly when she wanted to distract herself. Granted, she was the type of student who consistently got passing –- but run-of-the-mill -– marks, so it wasn't like she was on the honor roll. And it wasn't like she was fond of studying, or even of school for that matter.

No, for Nakayama Yayoi, school was something more of an obligation, and studying a mechanical means of fulfilling that obligation.

Still, that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate it once in a while.

She chewed momentarily at the tip of her mechanical pencil as she thought about the next number of her assignment. For the day she was tackling English and she was having a few problems comprehending the need for so many so-called "parts of speech". The hell she cared about prepositions and conjunctions and whatever else her paper was asking of her.

Sighing in defeat, she wrote a random explanation and allowed her mind to wander.

Most of the chairs in the classroom were empty and arranged in neat five-by-six rows, but a portion at the front had been cleared away to make room for a couple of bags and two coolers. Yayoi had taken a window seat nearest to that area so she could keep an eye on those things. Even if the school was empty of students due to the weekend, it was still irresponsible to leave personal belongings lying out in the open, especially if said belongings included a laptop and extra AT gear.

She sighed for a second time and slumped over her notebook, forehead touching the desk with a small, slightly painful 'thump'.

She was so useless that she'd relegated herself as a babysitter to a bunch of inanimate objects, huh? It was depressing. Every day she spent with Kogarasumaru was turning out to be depressing. There was a time she was contented with staying in the sidelines, cheering her team on and doing the little things for them while they trained, but lately… Lately…

Lately she'd been feeling dissatisfied with herself.

Okay, back to English, Yayoi thought, sitting up suddenly. Her eyebrows formed a V at the middle of her forehead when she saw the big round sweat mark she'd accidentally stamped on her notebook. "Ah damn..."

A long, protracted 'rip' cut through the silence of the classroom as she tore the page out and re-copied her answers on a clean sheet. As she mentally read through the words that she was writing down, at the back of her mind she knew that the action had been unnecessary and wasteful. Having to recopy her answers was tedious as she was more than halfway through with the assignment; and she didn't particularly care if she handed in a paper that was pristine white or dark-gray with dirt.

But today she cared. For some reason she wanted it to be perfect.

If she did this single, insignificant assignment perfect then that meant she wasn't quite so useless, right?

One of her small talents was, perhaps, the ability to write quickly, neatly and most important, legibly. Maybe she could offer to do Kogarasumaru's paperwork sometime, if they could trust her with something so important.

Her hand stopped its steady pace across the page as her mind latched on to the word 'trust'.

She tried saying the word to herself, tasting its foreign motions in her mouth.

Trust.

Besides Emily, did she trust anyone on the team? Really? When it came down to it they were all just boys who were into air trek, which was typical. What drew her to them anyway? What made her want to give up most of her free time tending to their training schedules?

It couldn't have just been Emily because there was a time when her best friend disliked –- no, feared them and their chosen sport.

 _I got it,_ she thought, with a glance out the window, her eyes immediately catching sight of a group of boys winding down the track field at top speed. _They inspire me_.

Inspire.

That was another word foreign to her mouth -- but she could identify with the warm, fuzzy feeling that traveled across her shoulders and gathered at the pit of her stomach. When she was watching them do their best she often felt like doing her best as well. It was not like they were doing any of it for her sake, but it wasn't like inspiring things needed to have some kind of special attachment to a person.

Seeing was always just enough.

Curling her fingers together, she stretched her arms up above her head and counted by twos up to twenty, then back. The familiar warm up exercise loosened up the kinks in her back, and relaxed her some. If she wanted any hope of finishing her homework she wanted to feel as good as possible.

After all, the boys would want to copy.


End file.
